Setting and maintaining boundaries between work and personal life is crucial to avoid burnout and maintain mental wellness.
Referring to work as 'family' can have detrimental effects on employees' mental and emotional health.
Deep dives
Understanding the Importance of Boundaries
Setting and maintaining boundaries between work and personal life is crucial to avoid burnout and maintain mental wellness. Boundaries help to separate the different expectations, goals, and responsibilities of work and family. Without clear boundaries, individuals may face challenges in prioritizing their needs and may experience unhealthy patterns of overworking, overcommitting, or people-pleasing. Recognizing the need for boundaries and learning to communicate them effectively is necessary for maintaining a healthy work-life balance.
The Impact of Blurring Work and Family
Referring to work as 'family' can have detrimental effects on employees' mental and emotional health. While the intention may be to foster a sense of warmth and belonging, calling work our 'family' can blur boundaries and create unrealistic expectations. By recognizing that work and family are distinct entities with different goals and responsibilities, individuals can avoid experiencing burnout and preserve their mental wellbeing.
Taking Accountability for Personal Change
While employers and workplaces play a role in preventing burnout, individuals also need to take ownership of their own patterns and behaviors. Recognizing personal tendencies to overwork, people-please, or struggle with boundaries is the first step towards making internal changes. By communicating boundaries clearly, seeking help when needed, and prioritizing mental health, individuals can break free from unhealthy patterns and create a sustainable work-life balance.
You may need to hear this (if you haven't already): your job is not your family. While you can develop meaningful relationships with your colleagues, calling work your family can actually breed burnout and be detrimental to your mental and emotional health. Mental wellness educator Gloria Chan Packer walks through the exercises you need to shift your perspective and redraw the boundaries between your work and personal life, so you can feel freer and more empowered. Join Modupe after the talk, as she shares how to practically set boundaries in your own life.